Training with Jess
by Ayako Nazuki
Summary: Complete! Short Sidefics of Chapter 38: TSTNW
1. T1

Training 1: How to be resourceful  
  
"Ok. Since we can't ignore Doctor G's command, we're each trying to train you to survive in our missions. Today, we'll be teaching you to be resourceful," Heero said briskly as he and the others trooped into the spaceship's inner Recreation Room.  
  
Inside the Recreation Room, it was almost bare save for a black leather couch and a television, which Trowa and Quatre quickly pushed to the furthest end of the room.  
  
"Let's start with the basics: When in any mission, we must prepare the things we need to successfully complete it. But there will be times when something unexpected crops up and we must deal with the situation as best to the ability as we can. Do you understand?"  
  
"I think so," Jess nervously answered, dwindling her thumbs as she looked around the room. Even with the presence of the five boys in the room, breathing the air it supplied, there was something cold and intimidating about it. Jess shivered. The bare metal walls of the room reminded her of a high-security prison she once saw on television.  
  
For a moment, Heero hesitated, unwilling to believe her. But then, on second thought, decided it wasn't necessary since this training was to first assess her skill in resourcefulness. He would lecture, or even scold if needs be, if she showed imcompetency later.  
  
"Fine," he agreed, shrugging his shoulders, "lets do scenario first." Then grabbing a surprised Quatre, he hooked his arm around the boy's neck while capturing an arm and twisting it behind the boy's back with his other free hand.  
  
"You know, you could always ask first. I wouldn't mind helping," an offended Quatre remarked, annoyance clear on his face.  
  
"Pretend you have nothing on you like now," Heero began, ignoring the irritated blond. "No weapons or usable objects nearby and you need to free your friend, Quatre here, from me, the attacker. What are you to do?"  
  
"Simple," the girl answered and then screamed: "Help! Heero, Duo, Trowa or Wufei! Quatre's been captured!"  
  
Heero winced as the scream vibrated around the room, amplified by the four bare walls and emptiness within. Meanwhile, he could see the others clasping their hands to their ears, faces twisted with agony. Even Quatre was struggling within his grasp, trying to wrench the captured hand free to cover his open ear. But Heero had been trained by Doctor J never to give up, no matter how harsh the situation was and not even now was he going to let his captive go.  
  
"Ok, thank you. I'm sure they could hear you from six floors down," Duo quickly said once the scream stopped echoing around and he got his hearing back. "But what I think Heero is asking is what happens if all of us are unavailable to save you or Quatre?"  
  
"Well, I think my scream did a pretty good job disarming you guys," Jess answered, looking proudly back at them.  
  
In response, Duo pointed at Heero and said a matter-of-factly: "Heero didn't take his arms off Quatre and anyone can shoot you before you finish that scream of yours. You're a sitting duck for sure, if you meet someone like Heero. And believe me, there are plenty in OZ and the Federation to fill his shoes.  
  
"Ok, ok. I get the point," Jess relented, throwing her arms up in the air in surrender, "let's redo the thing."  
  
"So I got Quatre. What are you going to do?"  
  
"Slipper to the rescue!" Jess hollered as she removed her left foot slipper and hurled it at the attacker.  
  
Instead, the slim, sliver-beaded slipper flew off course and went smack into Duo's face.  
  
"Opps!" Jess stammered, clasping both hands to her mouth, eyes wide open with surprise.  
  
"You're aim needs working," Heero spoke as the slipper dropped from Duo's face to the ground with a soft "pa"!  
  
AN: To my dear wonderful reviewers in "The Story That Never Was", I will include your names in Chapter 39 of that story. (Because it will seem a bit odd here.) Hope you will enjoy these cute short side stories.  
  
P.S : To both new and faithful readers, I'm afraid that so as to not ruin the lovely titles I set up for these short side stories, I will put your names at the end like this. Thank you for your support.  
  
:] Ayako Nazuki [: 


	2. T2

Training 2: Aim  
  
"You do know what's this is, right?" Heero asked with some apprehension.  
  
"Of course! It's a discus," Jess replied, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder nonchalantly. "I learned it in P.E."  
  
"P.E?"  
  
"Physical Education."  
  
"Ah . . ."  
  
"Anyway, you do know how to throw it, right?" Duo asked cautiously, backing a little towards the direction of the exit.  
  
"Trust me," Jess replied, flashing two perfect sets of white teeth at him.  
  
"That's what I'm afraid of," Duo murmured under his breath as Heero handed her the item.  
  
With the discus in hand, Jess took some steps back, judging the distance. Today, they had brought her to the ship's indoor field for some sports. Heero had already briefed her that sports would help sharpen her aim and give her more strength and dexterity in her movements.  
  
The field was not much except it was bigger than the recreation room, the size of a small football field. Being on the top level of the ship, it had a dome-shape glass ceiling that would allow sunlight to come in. However, today, the ceiling was closed with metal panels, light coming from the florescent lamps at the sides instead.  
  
"I was a pro at this," she bragged to the boys, feeling awfully confident since something NORMAL was back in her hand.  
  
"Good. So show us," Wufei spoke, folding his arms with annoyance.  
  
"Taking a deep breath, Jess braced herself and went running forwards to the marker. Then, with a sweeping arc of her arm, she got ready to throw.  
  
Only to find that the disk had already left her hand.  
  
"In coming!" Duo shouted as he spotted the disk heading towards them.  
  
There was a mad scramble as the boys ran in differing directions. Trowa ran into Quatre, who fell and grabbed Duo pants; causing him to trip and fall in front of Heero, who in an effort of great will, pushed Wufei out of the way to get out of Duo's way; causing Wufei to sit down in a hurry.  
  
Looking up, Wufei hurriedly open his legs and watched as the discus fell and buried itself six inches into the ground between them, close to his crotch.  
  
There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone stared at the disk, half buried between Wufei's legs.  
  
"You're a pro alright," Duo agreed when he finally got back his voice, "at disaster." 


	3. T3

Training 3: Aim no. 2  
  
"Ok, second session of aim training in place. Start now!" Wufei's voice boomed from the system's loudspeakers overhead.  
  
All of them were back at the same spot two days later with the only exception of Wufei being safely within the system control box located outside the field, watching Jess progress from behind a glass panel.  
  
"Javelin," Heero explained, holding one out to Jess.  
  
"Yep," Jess agreed and tried to take it. But Heero hurriedly pulled back his hand before her fingers could touch it.  
  
"Watch," he said, putting a finger in front of her face. Jess nodded reluctantly.  
  
Once sure he had her full attention, Heero walked towards the marker. On reaching the marker, he threw the javelin as hard as he could. The javelin sailed with ease through the air and landed at the far end of the field.  
  
Meanwhile, Duo gave one end of the measuring tape to Trowa. Then together, they trod down to the marker and started measuring.  
  
"Well?" Heero called out when Duo reached his javelin.  
  
"138 meters!" Duo hollered back, clasping his hands over his mouth. "I think you broke your last record!"  
  
After hearing Duo's answer, Heero jerked a thumb in the direction of the marker as an indication for Jess to start. Meanwhile, Duo had hosted up the javelin and was walking back to the group.  
  
"Here," he said, handling her the javelin as he passed her on the way back to the group. "Good luck."  
  
"Thanks," she murmured back, "I'm going to need it."  
  
Then Jess's eyes widen with shock as Duo deposited the full weight of the javelin into her hands. It weighed a ton compared to the school's javelins. Jess's knees nearly buckled under the weight.  
  
"What's this?!" she shouted at Heero as she struggled to bring the javelin to the marker.  
  
"Javelin," came the nonchalant reply.  
  
"Like real it is!" she shouted back. "My school's ones are not as heavy as this!"  
  
"Oh?" Duo said, curiosity on his face as he approached her again. Taking the javelin from her hand, he weighed it by bounding it lightly on one hand. "No, all our javelins weigh like this. We even got heavier ones. This is the lightest in our lot."  
  
"You've got to be kidding me. No one can throw this kind of javelin that far."  
  
"Heero just did it," came the reply and an arched brow in addition.  
  
"That's because Heero's a . . . a . . ." Jess let her sentence trail off. She wasn't sure letting Heero hear her say him a perfect soldier was an insult or a compliment.  
  
"A what?" Duo prodded when Jess didn't complete her sentence.  
  
"Never you mind," Jess snapped, feeling irritated. "What about you? Can you throw it far?"  
  
"Hmm . . .," he replied, fixing her a contemplative look. Then drawing back his arm the same way Heero did, he threw the javelin. The javelin went flying to the end of the field, landing a short distance away from where Heero's javelin had once stood.  
  
"I am surrounded by abnormally strong people and they want to include me into their group," Jess muttered to herself as Duo took the measuring tape from Trowa and started measuring his own throw.  
  
"What?" Heero called out from behind when Duo reached his javelin.  
  
"128 meters!" came the squeal of delight. "I'm catching up to you, Hee- chan."  
  
"Hn. Not if I beat myself first." came the challenge.  
  
Duo stuck out his tongue at Heero in response.  
  
"Here, give it a try," Duo said once he returned back to the marker. Then he gently handled her the javelin, giving her time to adjust to its weight.  
  
"Ummm . . . Thanks, I think," Jess distractedly answered, her full attention on the javelin.  
  
"Throw girl," Wufei's voice boomed overhead. "Show them what a weak onna you are."  
  
'Weak my foot,' Jess disgruntedly thought as she struggled to raise the javelin with both hands. 'I show you weak.' Then she gave it her best short.  
  
The javelin dropped almost in front of her, it tail quivering straight up in the air.  
  
No one commented. Only Duo moved forward to measure the distance between marker and javelin.  
  
"What?"  
  
"5cm."  
  
"Hn."  
  
"You've got to admit. That's quite a record." Duo quickly said, fixing Jess a cheerful smile.  
  
"A record in what?"  
  
"No one ever got this kind of lousy grade like you before."  
  
"Bwa ha ha hahhaaa hahaha aha ha ha ha!" Wufei's laughter howled overhead, bouncing back and forth across the four corners of the field. Jess could feel her face turn red as the laughter intensified.  
  
Meanwhile, Duo hosted up the javelin and gave it back to her. When the laughter finally started to recede off into space, Heero gave new instructions.  
  
"Rise that javelin to your face level!" he commanded. Jess could detach a slight annoyance in his voice. "And make sure your posture's straight and your chest is out!"  
  
"Using one hand to throw is better," Quatre added in helpfully. "It will give you more flexibility."  
  
Jess raised her hand in the universal sign of "Ok" and did as she was told. Only to find herself stumbling backwards under the massive weight of the javelin.  
  
"Here she comes," Duo murmured to the rest in general and they quickly moved out of her way, watching her come to a stop as the javelin buried its sharp back end into the ground, in the middle of the group. Jess lost hold of the javelin and landed flat back on the ground with a soft "thump!"  
  
Then she found herself surrounded by all four of the boys, looking down at her from all four sides.  
  
"You ok?" Quatre asked, looking into her face with concern, his baby blue eyes wide with anxiety. Jess could only nod in response. All her breath had been knocked out of her when she fell to the ground.  
  
Duo disappeared from view temporary, only to return with the measuring tape.  
  
"What?" Heero asked, waiting and dreading the result.  
  
"Negative 3.5m. At least the numbers are getting bigger if we ignore the negative," came the hopeful reply. Heero groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose.  
  
"Looks like it's gonna be a loooooong day." Wufei's comment boomed from overhead. "I just get comfee over here with this chair and book and my nice cup of cappuccino. Over and out. Ha ha ha."  
  
AN: Here's to Random Reviwer, Megami Tenshi and Raizard333! A big Thank You for your reviews. I really appreciate it! :]  
  
Please note: I'll be updating this short side fic every week from now on. :] 


	4. T4

Training 4: Strength  
  
Finally everyone agreed that the problem lay within the girl's muscles. She just didn't have much.  
  
"What do you mean not much?" Wufei hollered from behind them, keeping a good distance between him and the girl. "You mean none! She's like a living skeleton!"  
  
"Well! For your info, near skeletonial figures happens to be the fashion among the girls these days!" Jess shot back over her shoulders, feeling highly offended. "The guys in my world find it sexy!"  
  
Wufei gave a loud snort that echoed down the passageway they were marching through.  
  
"And in this world, you're about as sexy as a pile of bones get can. The only people I have seen as thin as you, are the beggars on the street and those without money to spend."  
  
"Well, excuse me for being unsexy!"  
  
"You're excused."  
  
"Grrrh!" Jess grounded her teeth together. That boy really had a way of increasing the blood pressure.  
  
"Hey, where you're going?" Duo stopped her just as she was about to stomp further down the passage. "We have reached."  
  
Jess whipped her head around and found that the boys had gathered in front of a blank metal wall. Looking left and right, she could see there was no door on either side of them. Just a blank wall, identical to the walls on either side of the metal arches framing it.  
  
As if sensing she had a question on the tip of her tongue, Heero raised a remote and pressed a red button on it. Jess gasped as the wall then slid to one side, revealing a secret room behind it.  
  
However, this new room was pitch dark. Even peering hard into the room did no good. Jess couldn't make out anything more than a meter past the doorway. Thus, as the boys moved forward, Jess lurked behind; refusing to take a single step into the inky blackness of the room.  
  
"Come on," Duo said, motioning with his head for her to move when he noticed she stayed where she was in the passageway.  
  
Jess shook her head in reply.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"That room's scary . . .," she answered, looking pretty frightened. Duo sighed and rubbed his neck.  
  
"Hee-chan?" he called out to the Japanese boy. In response, the boy clapped his hands twice and bright light flooded the room.  
  
This was so sudden that Jess had to close her eyes and wait for them to get accustomed to the light. But when she could finally open them, the sight left her almost breathless.  
  
The room was like a gym, complete with dumbbells of various sizes and weights, exercise bicycles, weight pulleys, arm lifts, and many other kinds of muscle building machines. There was even a small court to play tennis or squash!  
  
Jess marveled. Compared to her school, this gym was like the ultimate body building room. For every type of machine, there was at least two or three scattered around the room! If her principal were to see this, he would have fainted from sheer joy. In her world, each of the larger, more complicated contraptions was enough to add half a block to her existing school.  
  
"So, what do you want me to start with?" she asked, taking a hesitant step into the room. Heero pointed at the dumbbells section.  
  
"Arm building," he explained and walked over to lift up a bar. Then he started choosing the respective weights and placing them on either side of the bar to balance.  
  
Meanwhile, Duo guided her to a bench and instructed her to lie down on it. "Heero will bring over the weights for you to lift." He explained as he gently helped her head to rest on the bench. On either side of the bench, there were two poles with open ends for the weights to rest on. Jess eyed them with worry.  
  
Once satisfied that the weights were enough for her, Heero brought them over. Then with three fingers, placed the bar on the poles.  
  
"Go ahead," Quatre encouraged, smiling sweetly. "If he can carry them with three fingers, shouldn't be a problem for you to carry with both hands." Jess eyed the weights warily on either side.  
  
'Hm . . . One small one on each side . . . shouldn't be a problem,' she thought, deciding that perhaps Quatre was right. She then lifted her arms to grip the bar.  
  
"Good," Heero muttered under his breath, his eyes suddenly very serious. "Lift."  
  
With a good deal of effort, Jess straightened her arms and lifted the weights off their rests.  
  
'Hey, not bad! I'm could get the hang of this!'  
  
Seeing that she was ok, Heero nodded his head and instructed: "Now bring them to your chest level slowly."  
  
For a moment, it seemed like she couldn't get her elbows to unlock. They just remained there, holding the weights straight up in the air. Then, with a tiny pop, they unlocked and down came the weights (and arms) at incredible speed!  
  
"Eeeyah!" Quatre uttered, clasping two hands to his mouth in horror while Heero and Trowa leaped into action, catching hold of the bar before it landed on Jess's neck. Meanwhile, Duo and Wufei had both grabbed the weights off on either side of the bar; each clasping it tightly to themselves and looking down at Jess with faces white with shock.  
  
"Jess? You ok?" Duo asked.  
  
No response  
  
It took another minute longer for them to ply Jess's hands loose from the bar she was gripping so hard. Her eyes were already blank, staring vacantly at the ceiling and her hands remained in their curled state, as if she was still gripping the bar.  
  
Duo waved a hand in front of her eyes. No blink. She just continued to stare blankly ahead.  
  
"Ok, remember that talk we had on starting light?" Duo asked, staring hard at Heero. Quatre joined him in the act.  
  
"Hn. Bakas. Of course I remember," Heero retorted, folding his arms across his chest in a defensive way.  
  
"And?" Trowa probed, taking the weight from Wufei's hand and examining it.  
  
Heero shrugged his shoulder. "These are the lightest. 15 kg each." 


	5. T5

Training 5: Taking Orders  
  
Heero hosted the loudspeaker to the front of his face. Today, he was going to try something less dangerous.  
  
Pointing at the loudspeaker, he gave Jess a questioning look.  
  
The girl nodded. "Loudspeaker," she said, naming the object in his hand.  
  
Nodding, he put the end of the loudspeaker to his mouth and spoke: "Today's training: Commanding."  
  
"Really?" the girl squealed, looking positively delighted.  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Good! Go get me some lemonade!" she commanded, pointing in the direction of the door. "I'm feeling very thirsty."  
  
There was silence as everyone waited with bated breath on what Heero's response would be.  
  
Heero put the loudspeaker close to Jess's ear.  
  
"Commanding, yes. You, no," he answered in a low, controlled voice. "Do I make myself clear?"  
  
"Why no?" the girl questioned, looking at him blankly.  
  
"Because I'm the leader."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I say so."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't care! Do I make myself CLEAR?!?!!" Heero shouted into the loudspeaker, completely brushing aside the girl's last question. The wind of his shout nearly blew Jess's hair straight out from her head.  
  
"Oh yes, very clear," Jess muttered under her breath as she gave her head a shake. "So clear it's vibrating in my ears."  
  
"Good! Because you will answer me in Yes sir or No Sir only! Is that clear?!!"  
  
"Ok . . . I mean Yes Sir!" Jess quickly amended when Heero fixed her the mean-eye glare.  
  
"So if I tell you jump off the roof, what is your answer??!!"  
  
"No Sir!" And then she got a real good close up of red eyes and heaving nostrils.  
  
"Objection Sir . . .?" Jess said weakly, giving him a watery smile. "I like to explain sir . . .?" The eyes started to bulge in their sockets. From Jess's point of view, it was really quite freaky to see.  
  
"What's the answer . . . Sir?" she finally asked in a meek voice.  
  
"It's yes sir! YES SIR!" Heero all but screamed; grabbing fists full of brown hair and pulling. "And you must take all orders, whether you like it or not!" Jess watched as a brown tuff of hair floated serenely past her eyes.  
  
"Calm down, Hee-chan. She's new to this." Duo's voice boomed in the system's loudspeakers overhead. At which, Heero's response was to pick up his loudspeaker, place it in front of his mouth and let his explosives go. This was before finally answering: "I don't see you supporting me down here!" And he pointed at the ground near his feet.  
  
Jess winced. The number of vulgarities Heero uttered was enough kill her hearing, not to mention widen her vocabulary.  
  
"Oh I'm supporting you," came the smooth reply. "Can't you feel my love flowing out to you from over here in positive waves?"  
  
In return, Heero's only answer was to curse another stream of vulgarities.  
  
When he had finally exhausted all avenues of "knowledge", he turned his attention back to the girl.  
  
Jess gulped. Duo's intervention seemed to have done more harm than good. No doubt Heero's energy may have been spent, but he was positively more furious than he was before the interruption.  
  
"OK," he barked, hosting the loudspeaker right in front of her face. "Let's do scenario next! If someone is putting a gun to my head, threatening me to order you to kill me, what must you answer?!!?"  
  
". . . Is this a trick question?" she asked, pondering while rubbing her chin after a moment's silence.  
  
"No."  
  
"Or is it one of those "depend" kind of questions?"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Do I get to explain on the answer I choose?"  
  
"NO!"  
  
"Can I have another question? This one's hard."  
  
Heero felt something pop before white-hot pain exploded to spread across his whole head. Then, he suddenly found himself waking up in the clinic's bed with everyone gathered around him and Trowa holding out a glass of water to him.  
  
"You popped a nerve system while coaching her," Duo happily explained while Heero took the glass from Trowa's hand with a silent nod of thanks. "Sally claimed this is the first time she has seen such a case."  
  
"I hope it'll be the last too," Heero muttered under his breath before taking a mouthful of water.  
  
"Yeah, well . . . the girl still have one more question for you."  
  
"Hn. Shoot," Heero commanded, taking another mouthful of water. The water went sliding down his parched throat in a cool, refreshing way. Heero quickly took another mouthful.  
  
"The girl still wants to know the answer to that question. Is it Yes Sir or No sir?"  
  
Water went spewing out of Heero's mouth to shoot across the room, causing the remaining inhabitants to scramble out of its way. Meanwhile the poor boy was left choking and hackling to get the remains out of his nostrils and air passage.  
  
In a far corner of the room, Quatre whipped out a chart and pen. Choosing an empty section, he wrote: "Command-taking needs working. Session postponed till Heero recovers or till we find a substitute."  
  
Then sucking thoughtfully on the pen's end, he reflected on what he had just written.  
  
'Hmm . . .,' he thought and then quickly added: "* Preference: Short Fuse Tolerant!"  
  
AN: That wraps up another chapter till next week where I coincide it nicely with "The Story That Never Was". All answers will be revealed. So watch out for it! :]  
  
To my lovely reviewers: Megami Tenshi, Dianas-Lotus, Raizard333, Death's little side kick and blazinfan. Thank you for writing in with such wonderful reviews. I am truly flattered. To blazinfan: I have only one question. What is Blazin Squad?  
  
For kicks and because you all are such nice people, as hinted earlier, I will be updating "The Story That Never Was" next week too. Hope you have enjoyed these two side fics I updated today. :] 


	6. T6

Training 6: IT  
  
Jess settled herself as comfortably as she could into the chair Heero offered to her. Today's training was situated in Heero's room. In front of her, on a table, was a desktop computer; connected to Heero's stylish laptop by a single cable.  
  
Pointing to the cable, Heero explained: "Link - internet." Jess nodded to show she understood.  
  
Then Heero switched the computer on for her and waited for it to boot up properly. All the while humming a little tune under his breath.  
  
'He seems happy . . .' she thought, watching as the boy keyed in the necessary codes to enter the system controls. To Heero, this was the area he was most familiar with. The pinnacle of his skills. So far, the worst thing he ever got was a virus that was affecting the OZ main control system at that point in time. No doubt, courtesy of a certain manic he knew on board the ship.  
  
Thanks to his virus, his whole computer system was reduced to an audiovisual display that replayed itself over and over again, showing a small boy pulling down his pants and mooning the viewer before turning around and sticking out his tongue. On top of that, large bright colorful words flashed across, stating: "Guess who was here?"  
  
In the end, he had to reformat the whole system, wiping out a LOT of precious data stored in it.  
  
Heero stopped humming. Just remembering that incident made his blood boil. It was the cause for the early death of a mission: Blackmail. It also caused the loss of what possibly could be millions worth of dollars! Heero gritted his teeth and fumed.  
  
Meanwhile, Jess quietly moved her chair a little further away from Heero. The atmosphere around the boy had just turned dangerous for no obvious reason. She watched as the pen he held in his hand broke into two between his fingers.  
  
"He . . . Heero?" she tentatively called, tensing her muscles and getting ready to bolt at the tiniest sign of violence. "You . . . ok?"  
  
He blinked as if he was coming from somewhere far. Then he looked at her in surprise.  
  
"What are you doing . . . here?" Jess gave him the look. It was him that brought her here in the first place!  
  
"Oh." He quickly amended and reached over to take control of the keyboard. Keying in some commands, he got the desktop to access his laptop.  
  
"First off, lets do some simple basics of hacking."  
  
"Hacking?"  
  
"Yeah." And he started typing on the keyboards real fast. "See this speed?" he asked without pausing. "This is the first basic you need to have for hacking, especially when you're dealing with uncovered code areas. It's like a minefield in there. The moment you pause, the system will track you almost instantly."  
  
Jess looked at the hands flying over the keyboard. They were almost a blur.  
  
"Th . . . th . . . this . . . FAST?" she gulped, eyeing the hands with despair. "I haven't even taken typing lessons yet!"  
  
The hands stopped in their furious typing. Almost immediately, Heero's laptop started flashing red and giving out loud, continuous sounds. Then the boy turned a shocked face towards her.  
  
"You're seventeen, right?" he asked, his eyes wide with amazement. Jess nodded, unsure why he suddenly asked such a question.  
  
"You've HAVE used the Internet before, right?"  
  
"Well, when I need to check email and stuff . . . You know . . . click your mouse and such . . . USER-Friendly systems . . ."  
  
"You can't type?" he practically shrieked that statement, hands clutching his head. Jess winced. He needn't make it sound like it was a disability.  
  
"You needn't shout," she retorted, folding her own arms. The way Heero was carrying on, he was making her feel like an idiot. "I know how to type."  
  
'Yeah, with one hand and two eyes,' an inner voice confessed but she pushed that voice aside.  
  
But Heero continued to stare at her, disbelieve written all over his face.  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"Don't believe me? Try me," she challenged, tiling her chin up in defiance. Though reluctant, Heero walked over to his laptop and typed some codes that ended the red flashing screen and the ominous siren. Then he settled into a chair in front of his laptop before nodding to her.  
  
"Go ahead," he commanded, his face suddenly serious.  
  
Jess pulled her chair in front of the desktop and got ready to start. A blank computer screen stared back at her.  
  
"Well?" Heero demanded when she sat there for a whole minute, trying to determine what to do first.  
  
"Umm . . . Access code?"  
  
"Table." Boy! Did he sound pissed. Jess took a quick glance at the table and found a slip of paper with a long line of words and numbers attached to it.  
  
'Hhhmmm . . . First letter: A' she thought and hit the letter on the keyboard. 'Next letter . . . B! B . . . B . . . Hah! Found it!'  
  
But before she could hit the letter, the siren and the red flashing screen came on.  
  
"You're too slow," came the comment after a moment's pause. No doubt from Heero, waiting for her to absorb the humiliating notes of her defeat.  
  
"First try not counted!" she shot back, looking hard at him. "Let me try again!"  
  
"As you wish," he said, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling. With a few quick movements of his fingers, he restarted the security system. Then he watched as the girl typed in the letters again. This time, the siren sounded after the second letter.  
  
"Again!"  
  
Heero sighed. Looks like it was gonna be another long day again.  
  
***  
  
People would usually know when they are at their limit or when it's time to stop. Obviously this girl wasn't born with that kind of sense ingrained in her. Heero sighed as he restarted his security system for the 108th time.  
  
He had better things to do than this!  
  
Meanwhile, Jess stole a glance in Heero's direction. He had propped up his face with his left hand, and had a bored look written all over his face as his right hand moved his mouse. Jess wondered what he was doing at the moment. So far, the only improvement she made was to type up to eight letters before the security system went off. And she wasn't even a quarter through the access code!  
  
And even if he hadn't worn this bored look on his face, Jess would have known he was bored. The screen had stopped flashing red and the siren now played songs whenever it was triggered. This was the tenth song she had heard. And amazingly, it continued playing where it left off from the last trigger.  
  
"Have enough?" he suddenly asked when he caught her looking at him.  
  
Jess nearly jumped a foot out of her chair. That boy had instincts of an animal!  
  
"Wh . . . what makes you think I'm giving up?" she quickly retorted, her hands going to the keyboard. The song was triggered off at the first letter she typed. Jess could feel her face go red. She had type in the letter S instead of the letter A!  
  
"Hn. . . "  
  
At times like this, Jess felt like banging her head against something. The computer screen looked big and inviting.  
  
However, Heero surprised her by getting out of his chair and walking over to her after restarting the security system.  
  
"Wha . . . hey! I'm not finished," she quickly said when Heero pulled the keyboard towards him. But he ignored her, quickly typing in the access code and connecting the desktop to his laptop main system.  
  
"Let's call it a day here, ok?" he replied gently and returned the keyboard to her. "Now you have entered the main controls. I need you to try downloading all the files into here. Do you know how to download?"  
  
Jess puffed her chest out with pride. Back home, she was the queen of downloading when it came to that, especially translations on her favorite mangas.  
  
Giving Heero a bright cheery smile and V sign, she answered: "Of course! Leave it to me!"  
  
"I find that hard to believe," he muttered to himself but stepped back to let her do her thing.  
  
He watched as the girl grabbed the mouse and right clicked. Nothing happened. The girl clicked another time. Still nothing happened. The girl started clicking the mouse continuously and fast. Heero slapped a hand to his forehead.  
  
The girl was a complete computer illiterate!  
  
"Stop!" he shouted, snatching the mouse out of her hand. The continuous clicking was contributing to a migraine that was just starting in his head. Anymore and his head would explode.  
  
Placing the mouse gently on the table and holding back his anger took a great amount of will but he did it. Heero could almost visualize Wufei's reaction to such a situation. The girl would probably be sitting on her fanny outside the room long before this.  
  
"You need to create a backup or go in-between software for this. A link that directly connects you to these files you see before you," he explained slowly, trying his best to make her understand. She was looking at him with that blank look on her face again. Darn if he started wringing her neck in the next few minutes.  
  
"I am going to instruct you on how," he continued, grinding his teeth. "It's very simple."  
  
"Ok . . ." she obediently agreed and waited.  
  
"First, type in: F exe. Open log." He commanded and watched as she did as she was told. A yellow window popped up. The girl gave a squeal of delight and pointed at it. Heero smirked. This was just too easy.  
  
"Now, type in: Crl acs mouse."  
  
"Like this?" she asked and typed it in the pop up window.  
  
"No!" Heero shouted, surging forward to stop her. However, it was too late. The girl hit the enter button before he could catch her hand. The whole computer screen went black.  
  
"Look what you have done!" he scolded her and went running to his laptop. If he was fast, he may still be able to salvage the situation  
  
But Jess had other plans in mind.  
  
"Don't worry," she called out to him. "I've been in dos before!" And her fingers went to the keyboard. Heero ignored her. She couldn't do more damage then she could do now.  
  
* BOOM! *  
  
Heero swerved his head towards the sound and stared. The girl was sitting in front of the desktop, looking really guilty. The desktop was now leaking out thick clouds of black smoke, indicating a massive burnout.  
  
"What did you do??!!" he asked, suddenly afraid to hear what she had to say.  
  
"You sure you want to know?" she returned, trying her best to look pitiful.  
  
Heero left his laptop and marched over to her.  
  
* BOOM! *  
  
A second explosion. Heero slowly turned back his head. His laptop was now spewing out black smoke and its screen was missing its glass surface. Turning back to the girl, he bended over till they were eye to eye.  
  
"YES!" he hissed. Jess swallowed nervously. There was a wild look coming into Heero's eyes and they were starting to shine with a strange light.  
  
"You know when you're left with a blank screen and a blinking cursor?"  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"I typed: undo since that is how you recover things under dos system for windows. And it really did some undo thingies till it started saying invalid command. So I tried doing it another way."  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"Like Crl acs mouse and such since I didn't see it pop out anywhere in the undos things."  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"So it got messy and I thought I clear it up."  
  
"Command?"  
  
". . . Cls . . ."  
  
"Oh really . . .?" Heero bended even closer. Jess tried to shrink as far back into her chair as she could.  
  
"And there was Crl Del, Sys Cls, End Pgm? . . . The program was asking me to do those things . . ."  
  
For a few moments, Heero did not speak. He just continued to stare Jess in the eye, that wild light in it getting stronger by the second. Then suddenly, he straightened up and turned his back on her. Jess heaved a sigh of relief and got off her chair  
  
"Ten seconds." He suddenly threw over his shoulder.  
  
"Huh?" Jess was puzzled by this sudden change of attitude.  
  
"Eight seconds to go."  
  
"For what?" she cried, her suspicions suddenly hitting a high alert.  
  
"Omae O korosu!"  
  
"Eeeeeeyaaaahhh!" Jess ran screaming out of Heero's room, running as fast as her two legs could carry her. "Sssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"  
  
Meanwhile, Heero cocked his gun and chuckled evilly.  
  
Payback time! 


	7. TF

Training: Finale  
  
"Sally!" Jess screamed as she raced down the passageway. She had read enough mangas to know that when Heero uttered: "Omae O Korosu", you can count on it he would be dead serious about it.  
  
'Darn it! Where is the clinic room?!' she thought desperately as she raced down the corridor. Being at Heero's room for the first time, Jess had no inkling how to get to the clinic room, no doubt it being the same level as Heero's room.  
  
Craning her ears, she couldn't hear any footsteps except her own thundering ones. But Heero was trained to track people down. So no footsteps didn't mean no Heero.  
  
'Come on . . ., someone, anyone! Save me!' she prayed silently in her heart as she ran.  
  
Then she noticed a door at the side.  
  
'Saved!'  
  
Giving fervent thanks to God, she ran up to the door. Only to find there was no knob. It was electrically operated instead.  
  
'Arhhhh!' Jess mentally screamed, clutching her head with both hands in frustration. 'Why do everything have to be technical?!'  
  
Then she heard a sound that made her blood run cold.  
  
* click *  
  
The definite sound of Heero cocking his gun. Jess threw all cautions to the wind and decided to give the door her best shot.  
  
Eyeing the sequence pad at the side of the door, she tried all her favorite numbers.  
  
"Sorry. Numbers are wrong."  
  
She tried another combination.  
  
"Sorry. Numbers are wrong."  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied a shadow suddenly appear. Getting bigger and bigger as the person came closer and closer.  
  
Desperately, she punched in another series of numbers without looking.  
  
"Numbers are correct," the talking sequence pad suddenly said. Jess whipped back her head to look at the sequence pad, feeling her hopes spring up with life.  
  
". . . but fingerprints are wrong. Unauthorized personnel."  
  
That sent her new, found hopes plunging into the deep abyss. It also popped a vein in her brain. She had just spent most of her precious time on this stupid contraption, when she could have been fleeing!  
  
"Listen you," she shouted at the pad, uncaring if that thing was battery operated without a brain, "I am on the verge of death! If you don't open this blasted door immediately, I will come back to haunt you!"  
  
For a moment, there was no answer. Then the door slid open.  
  
"Jess?" Quatre's head popped out, surprise all over his face. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Jess could feel her eyes fill with tears. Right now, Quatre, peacemaker of the group, looked like an angel from heaven. With a cry of happiness, she flung herself on the blond with a muffled: "Save me!"  
  
"Wha . . .What?!" Quatre was shocked beyond words. This was the first time he had seen her like this. Immediately, his protectiveness flared up bright within him.  
  
"Who is bullying you?" he asked, grasping her shoulder and pulling her gently away from him. Jess pointed over his shoulder in answer.  
  
Turning slightly around, he saw Heero standing in the middle of the passageway, gun cocked and ready.  
  
"He said: "Omae O korosu"," he heard her shaky whisper and decided things had gone far enough.  
  
Pushing Jess into the room, he closed the door behind her and faced his friend.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Looking up from her position on the floor, where she had fallen when Quatre roughly pushed her in, she found herself staring at three pairs of surprised eyes, staring back at her.  
  
Trowa sat in front of a table with a couple of cards in his hands. Sitting opposite him was Duo; one hand similarly holding cards, the other paused in the action of picking a card from Trowa's collection. Wufei sat at the side, between the two of them, one hand holding a book. Obviously he had been reading when she popped in.  
  
"Look at what the cat dragged in," Wufei snidely said, throwing her a look filled with contempt when he found his voice. "Lesson finished?"  
  
"More like terminated," she muttered in answer, more to herself than to him.  
  
"What is Quatre doing outside?" Duo quipped, lowering his hand to rest on the table.  
  
"Saving me."  
  
"Huh?" they all asked in unison.  
  
"Heero's trying to kill me."  
  
"You've got to joking. He couldn't even kill Relena."  
  
"He said: "Omae O Korosu" to me."  
  
"He said that to Relena and she's still living and breathing," Wufei scoffed, turning his nose up at her. "Whatever could you have done that can be worse than her stalking?"  
  
"I blew up his computer AND laptop."  
  
There was silence after that statement. All the male occupants were shocked into speechlessness.  
  
'Wonderful!' Jess thought gloomily, as she evaluated their reactions, which was basically wide-eye staring at her. 'Just peachy! Now I know he is really serious about killing me.'  
  
************************************************************************  
  
"Move," Heero stonily stated to his co-pilot. Quatre stood in front of the sequence pad, trying his best to block it from the Japanese boy.  
  
"Not till you tell me what you're planning to do with that gun and her," Quatre answered, steeling himself to be stubborn. He could see the determination in Heero's eyes and hoped it wasn't bent on being fatal. When Heero wanted something, whoever stood in the way was likely to be eliminated first. Nothing and no one could stand in the way of Heero and his objectives for long.  
  
"Hn." And he pushed Quatre aside as if he was nothing.  
  
By some skill, Quatre caught himself before he fell. The push was not at all gentle.  
  
"Ok. Spill. What has she done to make you so furious?"  
  
For a moment, it seemed like Heero wasn't going to answer. But then he turned his head and looked at the blond.  
  
". . . Laptop . . ."  
  
Quatre understood immediately. The girl must have done something catastrophic to Yuy's precious laptop and hence, the boy's frustration and anger towards her.  
  
There was only one way out of this situation.  
  
"I'll pay for her," he offered, hoping to sweeten the brown-haired boy's temper.  
  
"Hn!" the boy humph, returning his attention back to his mission, ignoring Quatre completely. Obviously he didn't want Quatre to pay for the girl's blunder.  
  
Quatre gave a sigh of regret. He really didn't want to come to this. But Heero was leaving him with no choice.  
  
"Yuy, prepare yourself!" he shouted as he threw his full body weight at the Japanese boy.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
"Ok! Code Red Alert!" Duo hollered as all of them sprang into action. Trowa reached for Jess and pulled her deeper into the room. Meanwhile, Duo started doing stretching exercises.  
  
Wufei, on the other hand, shut his book and sighed. This was before he threw her an annoyed glare.  
  
"What's that suppose to mean?" she asked as Trowa led her past, feeling her own irritation surfaced as well. He acted like she was the bane to his existence.  
  
"If you're smart, you will figure it out," he answered calmly before facing his back to her.  
  
Then Trowa shoved her under the bed.  
  
"Stay there," he commanded and then let the bed sheets down to cover her. Shortly, Wufei's book followed.  
  
"For protection, you troublesome onna," she heard him utter before the soft padding of footsteps faded away. Then the lights went off.  
  
Soon, the door slid open. Jess could see this by the imprint of light on the bed sheets.  
  
"Get him!" she heard Duo yelled as he leapt out from his hiding place to pounce on the Japanese boy.  
  
Sounds of scuffling ensued followed by uttered curses and groans of pain.  
  
Suddenly:  
  
* Bang! *  
  
Heero had fired a shot.  
  
"Darn it, Heero!" Jess heard Duo cursed him and she lifted up a little of the bed sheet to see what had happened. Heero stood there, his gun leveled at Duo who was clutching his right arm. There was blood seeping out from the between the fingers clutching the arm.  
  
'He shot Duo?!!' Shock coursed through Jess. It was so surprising to see that Heero was mad enough to turn on his friend.  
  
Meanwhile, Heero stonily asked: "Where is the girl?" Ignoring the painfully look on his friend's face.  
  
Despite his pain, Duo summoned enough strength to stick out his tongue and grin at Heero.  
  
"I ain't telling you."  
  
"Fine." Came the curt answer and Heero walked further into the room, cocking his gun as he went.  
  
Jess felt a strong kind of rage rise up at what Heero did. After all, the boys were only trying to protect her, not kill him! Jess gripped the book tighter in her hands and got ready.  
  
Lady Luck must have been smiling on her for Heero came to a stop in front of the bed; turning around to face the room and it's inhabitants.  
  
"For the last time: where is the girl?" he questioned his co-pilots again while Jess crawled out to stand behind him. No one answered; all of them were watching the girl slowly rise up behind him.  
  
With evil glee and a wicked grin, Jess answered: "Right here, you filthy scum!"  
  
And she brought the book down on his head again and again with all her might.  
  
"Jess! Stop! You're hurting him!" Duo suddenly started shouting.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Jess was taken aback by this undying loyalty of friendship. Meanwhile, Heero sank to the floor, unconscious.  
  
Then Quatre stuck his head into view from the doorway. In his hand, he held out a large white card. On it, large black words read: "I want to scare Jess. Help."  
  
"He was holding this when the door opened," Quatre explained guilty, "all the data in the computer and laptop has already been backup."  
  
"But . . . But Duo . . ." Jess stammered, her body already going numb with shock. The book fell from her hand onto the floor, beside the prone body of Heero's.  
  
"Just a flesh wound, a mistake!" Duo hurriedly explained, taking off his fingers to show her where the bullet accidentally grazed his arm. "He was aiming for the wall and didn't know I was about to lift my arm."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Then looking at Heero's still body, Duo's arm still dripping blood and the large white card Quatre still held, Jess did the only thing she was getting really good at.  
  
She fainted. 


	8. TEnd

Training: End  
  
"So how was training?" Doctor G asked two weeks later. Ignoring Heero's bandaged head, Trowa's black eyes, the mad twitching in Quatre's eyes and Duo's arm still dripping blood on the floor from the entrance to the controls. The only two unblemished people from the training was the girl herself, and Wufei, who was keeping a fair distance between him and the girl; like at the other end of the Gundam hanger.  
  
Hands came out and thumbs went up.  
  
"Oh, she's ready," Duo spoke, gripping his arm harder around the wound area to pause the flow of blood. "We'll only need to give her a gun and put her in OZ central base. She'll help them self-destruct."  
  
"That's good to hear!" Doctor G exclaimed, rubbing his hands together in delight as he eyed the girl before him. "Technical knowledge?"  
  
"She could wipe out entire systems with her fingers if she tries," Heero replied, glaring hard at the girl. "All she needs is the access codes and more training in typing."  
  
"Balance?"  
  
"She doesn't fall," Trowa quietly answered, looking at the Doctor G from his swollen black eye. 'but makes others fall . . .'  
  
"Stealth?"  
  
"She has taken me by surprise plenty of times, you can be sure of that!" A disgruntled Duo replied, pouting as he answered.  
  
Doctor J nodded his head with pleasure and then asked the question he was really concerned with: "How about piloting a Gundam?"  
  
A look exchanged between the boys. On the ground, the girl was already dangerous. In a Gundam Robot? The results could be disastrous!  
  
As if as one, all the boys gave Duo the silencing glare. Duo shrugged his shoulders and pretended to look up at the ceiling. Anyway, he just about as keen as the other boys to let the girl try piloting a Gundam.  
  
Assured that Duo would not try speaking out the truth, Heero answered: "Yeah. She got the appropriate practice." Then he shot a glare at the girl when she gave him a look of surprise.  
  
Jess, realizing now was not a good time to correct the boy, looked down at the ground instead. After all, whatever did that question have to do with her home going? The doctors had already given their word that once her performance was evaluated, she would be sent home, regardless of the war.  
  
So choosing to stare at the floor was better than giving the game away. Why jeopardize her chances of going home sooner?  
  
Meanwhile, all three doctors looked at each other and nodded. The time was now near at hand.  
  
"Very good," Doctor J praised, waving a hand in dismissal. "You may all go back to your rooms."  
  
Once all the boys and the girl had shuffled out of the room, Master O gave a whoop of joy. Doctor G started laughing. And Doctor J rubbed his hands with glee.  
  
"Finally!" Doctor J said with a breathless voice filled with excitement and anticipation, "Finally operation J.C can start."  
  
Then all three scientists threw back their heads and laughed an evil laugh.  
  
Author's Proclamation: Can't get enough of Jess? Catch her in my other fic: "The Story That Never Was".  
  
And to my wonderful reviewers: Death's little side kick, Raizard333, blazinfan and Isis Firewing, thank you all for your reviews. Hope you enjoyed these short chapters and will patronize my other little fic.  
  
To Isis, thank you for pointing out to me my mistake. Hopefully, I have corrected it to a much better description. :]  
  
Thank you all for your support and hope you will continue to enjoy other fics written by me. :]  
  
~ Ayako ~ 


End file.
